Braunschweig XI 2013

The number of members who had found their way to Braunschweig on that occasion was quite respectable, our corresponding list contains 35 names – in alphabetic order: 

Wolfgang Angerstein, Ralf Binnewirtz, Ron Bleeker, Günther Büsing, Mike Clapham, Jan Clementsson, John Donaldson, Bernd Ellinghoven, Calle Erlandsson, Alain Fayard, Hans-Jürgen Fresen, Tony Gillam, Harry Grondijs, Guy Van Habberney, Roger Klittich, Karl Klittich, Jes Knudsen, Matthias Limberg, Godehard Murkisch, Michael Negele, Jørn Erik Nielsen, Wolfgang Pähtz, Stellan Persson, Toni Preziuso, Andreas Saremba, Bernd Schippan, Bernd Schneider, Siegfried Schönle, Bernd Segebarth, Henri Serruys, Per Skjoldager, Jurgen Stigter, Hanspeter Suwe, Raj Tischbierek, Bob van der Velde.

On Friday morning Prof. Wolfgang Angerstein kindly gave me a ride from Erkrath (near Düsseldorf) to Braunschweig where we arrived in continuous drizzling rain shortly after noon. At that time the KWA meeting (first part) at "Lord Helmchen" was already in the final stages, but as I heard later on I had not missed any vital issues: There were the usual reports on the undertakings in 2013, on the KWA newsletter CSQ (layout by yours truly since issue no. 12), on the finances (on the occasion of the KWA reorganization 5500 € have to be paid to the Dutch notary), and on our book projects: Unfortunately we are still waiting for the English edition of the Ruch book on the early history of correspondence chess, and "Meran 1924/1926" hasn’t been published yet as well. The planned work on Duisburg 1929 will come out with considerable delay, maybe in the course of next year. Guy Van Habberney told about the idea to reprint the rare Irish chess magazine The Four-leaved Shamrock (ed. by Mrs Frideswide Rowland), a project initiated by Tim Harding. The latter has already invested some work, but at the moment there is no progress as the National Library of Ireland which has a large part of the original magazine in its stock has signalized its lack of interest to cooperate. Another book project considered by Guy would be an anthology "Best of CSQ". Our treasurer Michael Negele has recommended not to tackle more than two book projects per year.

Below some more photos of the meeting in the conference room of the Lord Helmchen restaurant:

After that first gathering most members moved to the auction house on the opposite side in order to take a preview of those items that were in their focus.
Again I give a small selection of photos:

After the preview, at about 5:30 pm, the second part of our general meeting started with a lecture by Prof. Wolfgang Angerstein on "Marineschach und drei seiner Vorläufer" [Marine chess and three of its precursors]:

Already before Wolfgang Angerstein had filled a glass cabinet with exhibits on marine chess, some of which you can see in the snapshots below:

From his lecture (we are not allowed to show the PowerPoint slides here) we also learned that Wolfgang Angerstein has published a small book on marine chess, a reprint in a mini edition of 3 copies only (see the exhibits on the previous page). The original booklet is "Marineschach. Seekriegsspiel" by Oskar Balasiewicz, published in Vienna in 1935, a work of 23 pages. (Complete material for a self-made game, game board, pieces as well as detailed rules of the game with a table and 5 diagrams.) Anyway the rules are very complicated and were not explained in detail by the speaker. One of the three reprint copies will come up for auction in the next Klittich event in June, 2014!

Wolfgang Angerstein’s presentation was met with prolonged applause, subsequently Michael Negele handed a very original chess gift on to him which our US member Larry List had given for Prof. Angerstein, namely a punching tool which enables to punch out a configuration of 6 chessmen - it was immediately tested by our professor:

Please click the image for an enlarged detail.

Naturally a relevant issue of the meeting was the voting on the KWA reorganization as well as on the new board. Here we can announce that both the new statutes and the new board were unanimously accepted by the attendant members. Guy Van Habberney will continue to act as our chaiman for the next two years, then a change is compulsory according to the statutes. John Donaldson (San Francisco, USA) will be our new deputy chaiman and Michael Clapham (Ipswich, GB) our new treasurer. Andreas Saremba will – as the representative of the German speaking area – take over the task from Roger Klittich who will retire for health reasons.
On this occasion we have to thank Andy Ansel for his commitment as deputy chairman in the last years, he will remain the representative of our US members, and likewise Bert Corneth, who will now join the board as representative of the Dutch members. Unfortunately he couldn't come to Braunschweig for health reasons - dear Bert, get well soon!

A short presentation of the KWA jubilee booklet followed, i.e. of the recently announced edition Simpson’s, Headquarters of the World. Tony Gillam (who had discovered the Whyld paper in his archives) was asked to give a short talk, and further copies of the booklet were distributed to the members.

There were also some free copies of the just published bibliography of the Serbian problem chess literature: It was a very kind gesture of Prof. Dušan Drajić (Belgrade) to send us 30 copies of the small edition, so Michael Negele could distribute them in Braunschweig - according to the mode "first come, first serve".

For two "members of merit" – Bob van de Velde (who formulated the new statutes in Dutch) as well as yours truly (KWA webmaster since autumn 2003 and CSQ editor since summer 2013) – there were additional appreciations, in each case supported by a bottle of good red wine.

Michael S. Langer, vice president and treasurer of the DSB (= German Chess Federation) from the nearby town of Wolfenbüttel, attended our evening meeting as well. Michael Negele handed 50 copies of the Festschriften bibliography Obliged to Tradition … over to him – as a donation to the DSB, and the authors signed a copy of the book for Michael Langer.

At this place special thanks to the Klittich-Pfankuch family who has once again pleased us with their cordial hospitality and who generously distributed snacks and beverages to the visitors!

On Friday evening (at 8 pm) many members met in the Al Duomo restaurant for the traditional get-together and the dinner, here I cannot offer any photos. Naturally on Saturday the chess auction was in the limelight which ran very successfully, as you may also derive from the meanwhile published Ergebnisliste (list of results). The latter was already available in the Net on the following Sunday evening – again a great service by the auctioneers.

To conclude, I add some photos of the auction hall …

Photographs: Ralf Binnewirtz, Michael Negele.